GPA: 3.95
SAT: 1600
ACT: 35
MATH II: 800
Physics: 800
Asian Male
[GRADES ARE IN QUARTERS, NOT SEMESTERS]
8th Grade
Honors Geometry A-/B+/A-/A-
Algebra II [A/A]
Pre-Calculus [A/A]
Freshman Year
AP CALCULUS AB B/A-
AP CALCULUS BC [A/A][5]
Honors English [B+/A]
Honors Human Geography [A/A]
Orchestra [A/A/A/A]
Chinese [A/A]
Honors Physical Science [A/A]
SS (self-studied AP tests)
Environmental Science (5)
Human Geography (5)
Gov (5)
Comparative Politics (5)
Junior Year (enrolled at University of Minnesota)
1st Sem
[2000 level] Linear Algebra and Differential Equations [A]
[2000 level] Writing and Academic Inquiry [A]
[1000 leve] Principles of Macroeconomics [A]
2nd Sem
[4000 level] Applied Linear Algebra [A]
[2000 level] Physics III [A]
[3000 level] Intermediate Macroeconomics [A]
SS
Macroeconomics [5]
Microeconomics [5]
Literature [5]
Language [5]
Senior Year
Undecided
ECs
AIME Qualifier [9]
USAMO Qualifier [10]
RSI [10]
USApho Gold Medallist [10]
USACO Silver [9] Gold [10]
ISEF Qualifier [9-10]
FRC Robotics ~24 hours a week for 3 months Design Lead [10] Captain [11]
Speech [~5 hours a week] [Qualified for national tournament [10]]
Presidential Gold Volunteer Award [9-10]
Creator of Science Magazine [~5000 visits a week][9-12]
Physics Club Creator [10-11]
Rec. Letters
Physics Prof. at University of Minnesota
English Prof. at University of Minnesota
NO HOOKS
Intended Major: Mechanical Engineering
Wants to go out of state.
My budget is pretty large as my parents are willing to pay for my BA. I prefer a medium to a large school in an urban setting. Greek life is not a concern to me.
“Medium to large school in an urban setting” sounds a lot like University of Minnesota, which you are apparently very familiar with, which will be bargain priced for you, and which will accept all of your college credit earned while in high school. But then familiarity often breeds contempt…
If you want to go out of state, what do you not like about Minnesota, and which states are desirable to you?
In terms of budget, have your parents assured you that they can pay about $75k per year for the most expensive private colleges? What some people think is “pretty large” may not be large enough in that context.
If you are certain about your desired major then have you thought about going to the UK? Olympiad qualification is very highly regarded and although it’s dependent on an interview and test, you’d have a strong chance of admission at Oxford or Cambridge (it is an academic judgement not a holistic process like in the US and they only care about AP scores not grades). If you are full pay then it is also cheaper than comparable US schools.
When I consider schools that combine a complete change of scene/climate with top-tier engineering in a major city, the first thing that comes to mind is Georgia Tech.
Also Rice, which is terrific for MechE (read about their Design Kitchen).
MIT is worth a shot as well, but I’m sure you’ve thought of that
More urban flagships with top-tier engineering: UW-Seattle, UCLA, UT-Austin.
UMinn sets the bar pretty high. Other excellent urban engineering schools include Pitt and CMU in Pittsburgh, Utah in SLC, CWRU, URochester, Tufts, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Ohio State.
I think people with qualifications like yours get into MIT. And people with qualifications like yours get rejected too. The snapshot of your path looks like you have the intellectual appetite for their often-described “drinking from a firehose” educational experience. They might see fit there. But you’re an unhooked applicant, and they have many more highly-qualified unhooked applicants than they can accept. Odds are probably against getting in but certainly not zero.
Additional mid-sized urban options: Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins.
The top Canadian universities could be worth considering too (Toronto, UBC, Waterloo, McGill). Maybe you would like their tendency to have fewer general education requirements than US schools.
Not quite urban urban, since Stanford’s in the middle of rich Palo Alto and Berkeley’s pretty much a college town, but you’d be close to San Francisco and San Jose.
VT is definitely not urban or med-large, it is just plain big. ?
I give another vote for Ga Tech. It should be a lower reach for you., it is medium sized, urban, one of the best ME programs in the country, and will likely transfer in most of your credits. How important is it to you keep your college credits? Many of the private schools will not give or be much harder to get the transfer credits. Also go ahead and apply to MIT, as you have a better chance than many.
@racereer Agree that Virginia Tech is not urban but don’t agree that is not med-large. There are about 27,000 undergrads, smaller amount than Purdue, Minnesota, Berkeley, Michigan, Ohio State, University of Texas , UCLA, University of Washington ( which have also been mentioned). The campus is actually quite manageable for engineering students.
You’ll be surprised how often I hear “My parents can afford it.” I would say the vast majority of time, there’s an element of wishful thinking in that statement. Even for well-off people, OOS tuition is cost-prohibitive. In-state is always your best bet, and UM is a great university. Plus, you already have college credit there.
